Traces the late-nineteenth-century movement to raise the U.S. flag at public schools, Americanize immigrant students, and inspire patriotism through flag exercises and recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance. Identifies political opposition. Relates this history to the June 1989, Supreme Court decision, stating flag burning was protected under the…

Presents four Directed Reading-Thinking Activities (DR-TA) for use in secondary social studies classrooms. Defines a DR-TA and shows its applicability in teaching students effective study habits when reading social studies textbooks. Offers strategies intended to engage students with their textbooks, highlighting interior monologues and grouping…

Presents a teacher-initiated model for reaching class consensus on the meaning of confusing or interchangeable concepts in social studies classrooms. Illustrates the model by delineating terrorism. Shows procedural steps that involve students in self and small group interviews where definitions are clarified until consensus is reached. Suggests…

Analyzes the difficulty of depicting a round world on a flat surface by identifying distortions in the traditional Mercator Projection. Questions whether its Eurocentric bias culturally conditions students. Presents other world maps that attempt to resolve more fairly the shape/area problem, including some drawn with computers. Encourages teachers…

Reports findings of a survey, asking 1000 secondary social studies teachers to rate 36 specialist-designed reading practices. Shows teachers value and employ these techniques: (1) provide suitable materials; (2) offer instruction and guidance; (3) develop readiness through prereading; (4) encourage recitation, discussion, and comparative reading.…

Compares East and West Berlin before and after the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989. Offers divergent viewpoints on German reunification from interviews of two professors: one from East Germany, the other from West Germany. Recommends that social studies classes incorporate current events such as German reunification. (CH)

Provides an annotated bibliography from the U.S. Department of Education's Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC) that highlights current trends in social studies curriculum development. Computer use in education and science and technology are curricular trends emphasized along with reports from the Bradley Commission on History in…

Using questionnaires and the Relationship Dimension Subscales of the Classroom Environment Scale, compares attitudes of 1,174 junior high and senior high school girls and boys about social studies and social studies teachers. Finds that girls enjoy social studies more than boys when they have female teachers. Posits reasons for this finding and…

Presents Clarence Earl Gideon's petition for counsel as a primary source document to be used in social studies units on the Bill of Right's Sixth Amendment. Examines the constitutional issues of due process and right to counsel. Outlines teaching activities that develop vocabulary and analyzes Gideon v. Wainwright as a case study. (CH)

Advocates teaching about the Vietnam war from a holistic, global perspective. Argues that ignorance of Vietnamese cultural history carries over from the war effort to current social studies practices. Urges reconceptualizing knowledge about Vietnam to see it as a place with cultural traditions of its own. (CH)

Provides an overview of the National Commission on Social Studies in the Schools' publication, "Charting a Course: Social Studies for the 21st Century." Reprints the report's curriculum characteristics and goals segments, which briefly outlines content placement. Presents conflicting conceptions of social studies education and questions raised…

Provides background to the National Commission on Social Studies in the Schools and its report: "Charting a Course: Social Studies for the 21st Century." Stresses that the commission represents a broad coalition from the social studies and history communities desiring curricular clarification and improved practice. Surveys the commission's primary…

Criticizes the National Commission on Social Studies in the Schools' report, "Charting a Course: Social Studies for the 21st Century." Questions the report's chronological exposition of history, exclusion of social problems until twelfth grade, emphasis on content, lack of selectivity, and declarative mood. Contends that, by ignoring students'…

Compares 1989 National Commission on Social Studies in the Schools' report, "Charting a Course: Social Studies in the 21st Century," to a similar curricular endeavor during the 1930s. Finds the 1989 version conformist, narrow, prescriptive, overly content oriented, and not reflective of educational research. Because of its academic imperialism and…

Criticizes the National Commission on Social Studies in the Schools' report, "Charting a Course: Social Studies for the 21st Century," for its contradictions, traditionalist views, positivistic approach to social science, and failure to identify ways to teach democratic values. Suggests that the report qualifies as an updated version of a 1950s…